PROMISE: 2005 - The government placed a special emphasis on Imereti and its capital, Kutaisi, after President Mikheil Saakashvili told parliament in February that 2005 would be a year of “infrastructure and rehabilitation.” The regional administration has stated that work in these areas would be complete by October 2005. Thanks to the efforts of Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze, who represents Imereti in parliament, Imereti has since received an additional 5 million lari (about $2.7 million) for repairs.

RESULT: 2005 - As of late April, Imereti’s repair work had not yet begun. Local journalists claimed that companies which had won a road construction tender for the region were the same as those which, in 2004, had built low-quality roads in Kutaisi. Besik Gulordava, the city’s acting mayor, has told reporters that “strict sanctions will be imposed” on the tender winner if the quality of the repaired roads does not meet expected standards.

PROMISE: 2004 - The Georgian Ministry of Finance proposed turning the Imeretian town of Tskaltubo into a tax-free casino zone. Internally displaced persons from the breakaway region of Abkhazia now mostly inhabit the town, a resort in Soviet times, and its various sanitoriums. The government’s proposal would mean large investments in the town’s infrastructure and the relocation of Tskaltubo’s estimated 7,000 refugees to decent apartments.

RESULT: 2004 - Parliament voted to establish the tax-free casino zone in the village of Udobano, in the region of Kakheti, near the border with Azerbaijan and Armenia. The MPs decided that Kakheti’s location would be more convenient for casino-owners. Meanwhile, as of April 2005, Tskaltubo’s expected investment boom has amounted to one Kazakhstani businessman who, the Imereti administration says, may buy two sanatoriums uninhabited by refugees.

PROMISE: 2005 - In March, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli promised residents in several Imeretian districts, including Vani, Chiatura, and Samtredia, that the government would compensate them for property losses from recent landslides and floods.

RESULT: 2005 - Visiting the region to inspect the damage, Noghaideli told reporters on April 26 that “Our main goal is to restore the roads [in the flooded districts].” On May 20, the Georgian parliament allocated 40 million lari (about $21.8 million) for flood relief measures throughout Georgia.